68. Bushtit

Bushtits are irregular visitors to Leaning Oaks, tiny gray balls of fluff with a tail that are almost always travelling in a gang.  Flocks here have been as large as 28 individuals.  To date, we don't have records for May through the third week of July  and we don't have any breeding records from the property yet either.  They are commonest here during the winter months.

These are tiny birds that seem to play an endless game of follow the leader as the move around the neighbourhood occasionally gathering together in a small group.  The often visit our suet feeders, sometimes packing onto the hanging wire cages that hold the fat blocks so tightly that you can't tell where one Bushtit stops and the next begins.  Bushtits are relatively new immigrants to Vancouver Island, first recorded in the 1930's.  

---